How to Create the Perfect Balance of Features for Your Real Estate Website

Gone are the days when real estate agents could rely on footwork to cultivate clients – today, more than ninety percent of your prospective clients will begin their search online. As they work with you to zero in on a property, they’ll likely continue to seek information from real-estate and neighborhood information sites. This translates to an opportunity to use digital marketing techniques to build an online presence that will attract clients.

Not to be confused with a home page, the landing page serves as a digital portal to lead customers to you. Landing pages are designed to accomplish a single objective, and generally come in two basic formats: the Lead Conversion Landing Page and the Click-Through Landing Page. A lead conversion landing page is designed to capture contact info that you can use to develop a clientele. A click-through landing page simply directs visitors to click through to your website. The key to an effective landing page is simplicity – too much clutter, and visitors won’t have a clear objective.

Location, Location, Location

Most real estate agents target a specific niche market, and an important part of establishing your niche is staking out a geographical area. You can do this in several ways. Make sure to include references to location in your bio – if you live in your target area, talk about your own neighborhood. Use your blog to offer clients information about local events, landmarks, amenities and real estate markets. Incorporate links to neighborhood information sites, including sites for school districts and local business organizations. Clients will appreciate the resources, and they’ll be more likely to see you as an authority.

Frequent Updates

Few prospective clients will be impressed by a website that hasn’t been updated in weeks or months. Make sure that you provide fresh content regularly, and commit to updating your blog a minimum of once a week. These frequent updates won’t only impress visitors – they’ll also make a difference to your search engine rankings, since stale content will be treated as less relevant and authoritative than recent content. It’s also important to check in regularly, and ensure that information in bio and profile pages is up to date – and that only recent and current announcements appear on your home page.

Quality Content

Rapid-fire updates won’t be effective if you boost quantity without incorporating quality. Make sure that blog updates and announcements are relevant and informative. If you’re short on ideas, stick with areas of local interest and market expertise, or outsource content to a digital marketing company. It’s also important to make sure that content is carefully edited for spelling and grammar mistakes. Depending on your schedule and abilities, you may want to engage a professional content provider. Luckily, it’s easy to find a tailored service menu for your specific needs.

Another vital ingredient is you! Prospective clients typically spend weeks scrolling through page after page after page of anonymous listings and market info. You can break the monotony by helping them connect with you on a personal level. To that end, make sure to incorporate headshots and personal info into your site where possible. Your bio, a header or footer, a sidebar on your blog: look for opportunities to turn your website into a truly personalized space. If you work with a team of real estate agents, include a profiles pages with bios and photos for each associate. You should also feel free to include information like hobbies, interests, and community activities.

Social Sharing

Make sure your clients can find you on social media. Include social sharing buttons wherever possible. It’s crucial to make your site shareable on a listings basis, so that every single property you’re listing can easily be pinned and shared on social media. Give your prospective clients a chance to establish a sense of ownership, and your lead conversions will jump as a result. You’ll also gain access to an entire referral network of friends and family.

It’s important to include comprehensive photos of every property you list, but you shouldn’t stop there. A virtual tour will allow your clients to get a much more in-depth and immediate sense of the homes you have on offer. You can also use these virtual tours as an opportunity to foreground your own professional persona, serving as realtor and tour guide. Plugins allow you to give clients information on everything from local property values and neighborhood amenities to the likely cost of their mortgage.

Image Credit: Keepsimpledesign.com

SEO Strategy

As every real estate agent knows, having the nicest home on the block doesn’t help if nobody can find their way to your door! This is just as true for your website, which is why SEO is absolutely necessary to long-term success. Your site should have SEO best practices built in: automatic keyword generation, meta tag optimization, and microdata. You also want to ensure that backlinks and interest can grow organically, so make sure that every post on your blog is archived and organized, and be sure to share updates on social media pages.

Building and maintaining a top-notch real estate website takes some drive and commitment – but you’ll be using the same marketing skills you’ve already developed in building your real estate business. With these components in mind, you should have no trouble constructing a website that will promote lead conversion and strengthen client relationships.

Are you interested in learning more about real estate website development and other digital marketing strategies? At Square 1 Group, we make it our business to create multilayered technology and marketing solutions for our clients, tailoring our approach to your resources and needs. Contact us for a consultation today!